Illinois, Marquette on Nunn's trimmed college list

Illinois, Marquette on Nunn's trimmed college list

There were no real surprises when Kendrick Nunn announced his final college school list.
As first reported by Joe Henricksen of the Chicago Sun-Times, Nunn has narrowed his list down to Illinois, Marquette, Memphis, Ohio State and UCLA, in no particular order.
In addition to those five schools, Nunn also held offers from DePaul, Florida State, Oklahoma State, Providence and Texas A&M.
Henricksen spoke with Nunn's father, Melvin, about what his son was looking for in a school.
According to Melvin, Kendrick will set up visits before narrowing his list to two or three schools, and then decide.
According to Henricksen's report, Melvin also said his son will be looking at 1) the make-up of the roster; 2) a strong relationship with the coaching staff; 3) the team's style of play; and 4) a winning program while making his decision.
Nunn most recently picked up a scholarship offer from Thad Matta and Ohio State, and has expressed interest in staying close to home (Illinois, Marquette). He has a desire to visit UCLA's campus before ultimately making his decision, and Memphis' up-tempo style of play will factor in as well.
Nunn de-committed from Texas A&M in September 2011 and has seen his stock rise since winning his third straight state championship with Jabari Parker and Steve Taylor for Simeon Career Academy.
He also enjoyed a successful AAU summer after competing with Team USA, where he won a gold medal at the FIBA U-17 Championships.

Doug McDermott's return boosts Bulls' bench

Doug McDermott's return boosts Bulls' bench

Doug McDermott wasn’t exactly hunting for his first shot, but the first time he touched the ball in an NBA game in nearly a month wasn’t the optimal situation for him to let one fly.

It wasn’t in transition where he runs to an opening behind the 3-point line, nor was it a drive-and-kick situation where the help defense collapsed and left him open. It was a regular, simple, pass to the perimeter and McDermott’s defender was in reasonable proximity with 3:23 left in the first quarter.

He launched and the crowd soon roared its approval as his sweet jumper was sorely missed by the Bulls bench brigade—and moments later when he ran the floor for a fearless layup that caused Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to call a timeout, McDermott showed he missed the United Center crowd too, calling for more noise on his way to the bench.

“Anytime you have a guy like Doug, he comes back and makes his first 3, that’s hard to do,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He stepped up with confidence on that first shot. I’m sure he had a lot of nerves getting back out there.”

The last statement was certainly tongue-in-cheek, but the Bulls’ bench production was certainly missing in action while he was out with the concussion protocol. So much so that his return prompted the Bulls’ coaching staff to call out the reserves in the morning shootaround, demanding more.

“It’s definitely Dwyane (Wade) and Jimmy (Butler) and (Rajon) Rondo (but) the coaching staff kinda called out our bench like, we gotta have you tonight, bench,” McDermott said. “We took that to heart, we were really locked in.”

Seemingly his presence aided the Bulls’ spirits and production, as the Bulls’ bench had the least effective scoring bench in the NBA since Nov. 13, the day after McDermott hit the unforgiving floor against the Wizards for his second concussion this season.

Their net rating ranks ahead of only the Wizards, Mavericks and Nets, who are a combined 17-45 this season. Their effective field goal percentage, which takes into account 3-pointers, is worst in the league in that span (42.3 percent).

When McDermott was healthy for that smaller sample size, the Bulls’ bench ranked fifth in offensive efficiency, seventh in net rating, and fifth in efficient field goal percentage. Whether McDermott – and his absence – was directly related to those numbers, it’s clear the Bulls are better when they have their best reserve – and only true floor spacers on the second unit – on the court.

“We’re all professionals and we want to help the guys who are busting their butts in the first unit to get us the leads,” McDermott said. “Tonight we did a great job of sustaining it. We take it personal when teams come back on us.”

Nikola Mirotic was four of eight from the field, and Cristiano Felicio seems to be back in Fred Hoiberg’s good graces as he’s carved out a rotation spot for himself with nine points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes.

It seems as if Hoiberg will stick with this rotation of players, at least for a little while until Michael Carter-Williams returns from his injuries. If McDermott is the mark of the Bulls’ bench going from bottom feeder to adequate, it should show this month.

“When he’s out there on the floor and we get him coming off screens, it forces the defense to shift as another person they need to be aware of,” Hoiberg said. “It opens up driving lanes for our guys. It was great to have Doug back with us.”